Government told to restructure salary plan

JAKARTA: A discussion said Friday the government should establish a better mechanism to determine the salaries of state officials, including those of ministers.

"If the government wants to raise salaries then it must be fair. Some officials' salaries must be reduced, while others increased," a political analyst from the Indonesian Institute of Sciences (LIPI), Hermawan Sulistyo, told the discussion held at the Regional Representatives Council (DPD).

Hermawan said so far, salary allocation among state officials in various government institutions was unfair.

"The salaries for employees at the Finance Ministry is a lot higher than in other ministries. The Finance Ministry pay their employees almost nine times as much," he said.

"So the salaries in that ministry need to be reduced, then the government should increase salaries in other ministries."

Recently, a proposed plan to increase ministers' salaries ignited a public outcry because such a raise was considered to be insensitive toward the hardships most of the people in the country still faced.

DPD member Bahar Ngitung told the discussion that, although DPD members were aware of the public outcry, their hands were tied because the 1945 Constitution did not give the Council enough political power to oppose the plan. - JP